In many countries in the world you need not lock your door during the day or have a fence around your property. You need not be scared for your child to be raped. You need not see who is following your vehicle while driving home from the airport or the bank. Living in the city in South Africa… I think we are more used to survival than we ourselves realise.

First defence – high wall with spikes and electric fence connected to an alarm. Beams/ Robo guard early warning system inside property. A big dog, like a Boerboel, outside the house and a little dog, example Jack Russel, inside the house.
The combination of a big and small dog works very well. (Dogs gets poisoned often)

Second defence would be burglar bars on every window and security doors outside every door, including sliding doors. You need to put razor wire inside your roof to prevent them from gaining entry by removing tiles or the corrugated iron.
Some people put beams inside their roof as well. Private Armed response security companies respond if your alarm is activated.

Even with all this, armed robbers still gain access. It might just take them a little bit longer to get in. But making it difficult is giving you a chance to wake up and realise something is wrong. Movement sensor lights outside shows you why the dog is barking.
Best close the curtains before dark. And do not look with the lights on inside the house.

If they see an opportunity they will take it. They attach the steel gate to their vehicles and pull them off the rail. They attack as you leave to take children to school or coming back from work.
Driving put most people living in Gauteng in the Code Yellow.
Stopping at an intersection, in Code Orange… stopping anywhere in Code Orange. Handbag, laptop, shopping bags gets hidden out of view to prevent smash and grabs. A buddy system must be in place.

You tell your partner where you are going, which route you are planning on driving and when you will be back. We use a community tracking and panic system called E-block watch as well as other applications tracking our phones.

I asked my son if he feel safe in our home and at the school. His reply was “ Veilig is net ‘n woord. Ek weet nie hoe dit voel om veilig te voel nie” Translated to English that would be “Safe is just a word. I do not know how it feels to feel safe” We stay in a good area. But we hear them walking outside and on the roof at night. I push the panic button. Phone the police and so far … They’ve only been able to get in once.

Every time you find your weak spot and try to fix it.

Very few men in the cities carry a handgun while at work. The Government persuaded most people to hand in their weapons a few years ago and the weapons got destroyed. With our new law, knifes are being taken from people in the street.
People are being told never to resist the robbers. That they will then kill you…. Most older people are killed during robberies. Tied up and dragged through the house. On the farms they get tortured first. Hacked to death with pangas or raped in front of their husbands and then burned.

You may search for South African Farm murders, if you do not believe me.

But before I paint a too dark picture of my beautiful country… We are not scared of earthquakes, tornado’s, hurricanes, volcano’s or even snow storms! Only humans

I have read before about this situation in your country, but every time it struck me again.
And interesting here is:

The Government persuaded most people to hand in their weapons a few years ago and the weapons got destroyed. With our new law, knifes are being taken from people in the street. People are being told never to resist the robbers.

Leopard. I don’t know how you find the strength of will to keep living like that. I know that everything you say is true. I have friends who have traveled there, and friends who now live here that used to live and farm in Rhodesia. It is also true it is not easy or possible to just pickup and relocate in another place. But, is that an option for you? And, is the situation getting better or worse? Any hope in sight?

I have an idea of what you mean, yes you are more used to survival than you realize for basic personal safety. You grow accustomed to the bars on the windows and doors and the view through them. You lock everything automatically without thought. Your side and rear view mirrors are life saving things.Curtains are always drawn – you live in darkness. I stopped carrying a ‘purse’ after the first time I was mugged in broad daylight, when I was 15, with lots of other people walking past. Lucky that was all that happened.

Whomever runs the world could not certainly be cruel enough to send natural calamities such as earthquakes and such to your country – unless it were to sweep the evil away.

My heart goes out to you and your family. To live in such hyper alertness constantly, with evil walking on your roof over your head is just a travesty.

I do wonder if you must worry about corruption within the private security forces. Well, in thinking, I’m sure that happens if all that else does to.

May you and your family find some moments of peace and joy in your world. Thank you for reminding me of how very fortunate I am at the moment.

‘Good’ thing about crime being bad means most houses have got burglar bars and high walls with electric fence on top. People might not easily notice if you upgrade your security with more spikes and razor wire.

For more than ten years we have been exposed to crime. People telling us how they got tied up and robbed. People get shot during shopping center robberies. Every month people strike and loot shops. They burn tyres and throw stones at vehicles and the police

. I could guess and say most people living in Gauteng are used to a certain amount off the stress involved with the environment being dangerous. You listen to the news and avoid that road for a few days.
You help your employees during a strike with transport, making sure they do not wear uniforms and try to keep them safe. You simply make a plan to make sure your business survive. Somehow we cope and work hard and keep the economy going.

We’ve got ‘normal’ lives. We learn skills and gain knowledge and learn to trust the feeling when you know something is not right. You put your shoes next to your bed. Your flashlight, your phone, your keys. You keep the doors locked and the keys safe. I put different color rubber fitting over the keys to mark them and it helps to prevent it from making too much noise.

We do have vegetable gardens and are allowed to keep chickens. We can prepare for a complete collapse with water tanks and solar panels. But you need to be careful. Like the rest of the world it is easy to be frowned upon. We are not allowed to keep ammunition in bulk.
You will be declared right wing and thrown in jail until proven innocent. Keeping extra money in your safe with spare batteries and food in a truck instead of your kitchen cabinet, will simply add certain people’s suspicion.

Blend in with the rest for the main reason – to be left at peace in your own little world. That would mean not to speak up. Not to stand out or attract any attention.

To learn survival skills and practice, is safer than to keep a lot off tin food. Learning survival skills to protect your family and to feed them. It is important not to be seen as a threat for the government, while you are simply preparing to survive an economic collapse.

That is also why it would be safer for me not to mention that I do believe to fight back while being attacked. My friends train often in hand to hand combat. We enjoy teaching children to protect themselves. Some friends are instructors.
We share our accomplishments with each other and try to learn from each other on all subjects. From veterinary skills to plumbing. Practicing survival as a hobby and lifestyle.

Many people have left the country over the years. It is easy to get into our country, but difficult to leave. You need a lot of money and very good qualifications. Not only do we love South Africa, we love our people. We love our food.

Many of the favorite foods like biltong (beef jerky) and rusks have been enjoyed for generations and is excellent survival food. South Africa is warm and sunny. I know the plants in most areas. Surviving in a new country not knowing the plants or the area might be a hard challenge. It is a big decision, looking at the world news, trying to predict which country might not be attacked. Many places in South Africa are still very safe with crime rates being fairly low.

We are hopeful to move out of the city soon. And that the war hungry people will leave us alone.

Thanks for your reply and further description of your life there. How wonderful to have friends of like mind to share and learn with – it makes life better. I can understand not wanting to leave your home country you love. I was asking because it seems a good number of people from the US are giving up their citizenship yearly and it is growing. Hope you can move out of the city soon. Kudos to you for being such an employer. Ironic isn’t it that all so many of us would like is ‘leave us alone’ to live our life in peace…and so many are determined to stop that possibility.

I have followed the events of South Africa quite closely since the mid-1980’s. It was my dream to hunt in Africa. That dream is gone. Deklerk signed the death warrant of thousands.

The Boer farmers have been hunted without pity or mercy. I’m not going into what I have read about the farm murders, except to say that if they come for you it is better to die on your feet, perhaps taking a few of them with you, than to be drowned facedown in a pot of boiling water on your own stove (yes, that actually happened to a young boy who dared defend his family).

I would move away, if possible. And no matter what the government says, follow your own heart and head and common sense. They persuade you to turn in your firearms, then tell you that you are not allowed to have ‘too much’ ammunition… There IS no such thing as ‘too much’ ammunition. I would buy what I wanted and hide it. Under the floor or behind a false wall or even buried in the back yard… Your right to defend yourself and your loved ones outweighs the ANC’s authority to tell you what to do. Their “laws” clearly do not apply to blacks, which means there is no law… only a fight for survival.

I agree you should get out if you can. When SHTF lawlessness and cruelty will become much worse! I lived through a black out in 1977 in New York City and was completely astounded by the actions of “normal” people. Cannot imagine where you live and what could happen if there are shortages, riots, etc.

Leopard,
Couple suggestions that may sound crazy.
For personal defense always have a can of wasp spray handy. In the car, at work, at home etc. It works up to 20ft and, if you hit them in the face, will slow them enough for you to run or arm yourself with something.

For doors and windows:
Buy a bunch of extension cords. Leave the prong end alone and cut off the other end. Strip back the wires and tie one wire to the grate (window or door) and another to the frame for that grate. If you catch someone breaking in then plug it into the outlet. Not sure about where you live but you may have 220v outlets which will really light up someone’s life!

I had a friend who taught at a university in Cape Town (which I heard is relatively safe compared to Johannesburg for example). She moved away after one year because she heard too many bad stories from people she was working with…

Thank you for sharing the details on your home defense setup. I have sent you the real life experience achievement. Could you talk a bit more about the community efforts to keep violence and crime in check?

We use a community tracking and panic system called E-block watch as well as other applications tracking our phones.

How does this work? Do you have something like a neighborhood watch as well? Any efforts to organize something like a people’s militia?

I can honestly say, from reading what you have written. You live in the closest to hell other then Syria that I never want to be near. I truly hope that you and your family can get to the country area you want to be.

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
George S. Patton

Welcome Leopard. Thank you for a look at a lifestyle much different than mine. I can only imagine such. I grew up in the sandhills of Western Nebraska where the ranchers not only left their doors unlocked but left foodstuffs out in case someone got stranded and needed shelter. Even today, we generally do not lock our doors but my Wife is encourageing me to start doing so at night. I am getting better at it.

I need to thank you for all the encouraging replies. I was not sure if any information would be useful, but thought your side of the world might change in the future. I have learned so much from Selco and would love to learn more from this forum. I think we are privileged to be able to ask questions and discuss answers. It is wonderful to know there are still good people out there.

I think war, where hundreds of people die every day from bomb blasts, hunger and disease is worse than violent crime. I am more scared of war and think we should ‘fight’ for peace in our own countries.
Tweva I don’t know how you find the strength of will to keep living like that.

We have been experiencing violent crime for so many years that it does not affect us consciously anymore. Until a family member, friend or someone in your neighborhood gets attacked. Then the emotion surface and you feel angry or defenseless and scared. You really need to read your Bible to get answers then.
I do believe that we will be able to leave South Africa one day. I need that thought to keep going. Somehow I do not see that things will improve in the near future. We are still in a downward spiral with hundreds of people entering the borders daily from Zimbabwe alone.

Malgus wrote: And no matter what the government says, follow your own heart and head and common sense. Very true words. People must think for themselves. Take responsibility for your own life and the people that depends on you. Unfortunately by law, a licensed firearm owner is allowed 200 rounds of ammunition only. People with a sporting licence are allowed more for each caliber.
But in all my years I’ve never seen any woman in any city with a firearm except maybe for police woman. Even men do not walk around with concealed weapons often. Security armed response officers and police carry weapons on their body. Weapons and ammunition of ordinary citizens are mostly kept in safes…?
Most professional people working in the security industry and police force like the National Intervention Unit of South Africa are very skilled with firearms.

These units participate in intelligence-driven operations to combat crime in the service areas of police stations and are responsible for stabilizing tense crime situations when normal policing is insufficient, such as by intervening at incidents of public violence.
Their work also includes the combating of serious and violent crime incidents such as cash-in-transit heists, ATM bombings and armed robberies.

The eblockwatch incident map shows all crime related incidents that are reported by our members. The incidents are organised by geographical location which is really useful if you want to see what is happening in your neighborhood. Members also receive email updates of incidents recorded in their area. You program a number and use you phone like a panic button in case of emergency. You can also give them permission to track your phone and supply your loved ones with last known location. Even though you do not know other members, you try to assist if something happens in your area.